GREENSBORO, N.C. — A dancing first in New York is sending shockwaves all the way here in the Triad.
Last week it was announced, for the first time a young black girl will play the lead in the prestigious New York City ballet's version of "The Nutcracker."
11-year-old Charlotte Nebres who is half-Trinidadian and half-Filipino will play the role of Marie
"When I heard I was just like, what," 7-year-old ballet dancer Jaidah Garner said
Garner trains at the Royal Expressions School of Dance in Greensboro.
Other students at the school say seeing people that look like them make it to the top of the field is special.
"If she can do it, then like I can. So it kind of motivated me to work harder," 13-year-old Atiyah Wright said.
At Royal Expressions, a majority of students are people of color and are taught by people of color. It's something owner Princess Johnson says is a rarity in the dance world.
"I love that parents are actually seeking someone who actually looks like their little brown girls and they're a little brown boys to teach them and that they are entrusting me with that," Johnson said.
Johnson said it's important for her dancers to see successful dancers of color like Charlotte Nebres, Janet Collins, or Misty Copeland who helped pave the way.
In 2015, Copeland was named the first black female principal dancer for the American Ballet Theater company, one of the leading classical ballet companies in the United States.
"Representation means understanding. It means empathy. It means cultural giving and taking." Johnson said.
Garner says she's happy to see change, but expressed concern it's taking this long as only a 7-year-old can.
"I thought Martin Luther King fixed that way a long time ago," Garner said.
Nonetheless, Johnson says Nebres and Copeland's accomplishments should transcend the dance world.
"So I just ask that anyone who doesn't understand or can't seem to empathize with why we get so excited when one of us wins, there was a time when we literally were not considered human beings we were 3/5ths of a human.," Johnson said.